UMass celebrates after biomanufacturing facility's final beam put in place

The next step in the first stage of the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth was celebrated Thursday as the facility's final beam was unveiled. With a quick pull on a pair of ropes, a white curtain dropped to unveil the 15-foot-long beam, which...

The next step in the first stage of the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth was celebrated Thursday as the facility's final beam was unveiled.

With a quick pull on a pair of ropes, a white curtain dropped to unveil the 15-foot-long beam, which was already put into place for Thursday’s topping-off ceremony. Adorned with the signatures of hundreds of UMass Dartmouth students, faculty and staff, the beam marks the approximate halfway mark for the project, which serves as the beginning phase of the SouthCoast Life Science and Technology Park. The project is expected to be complete in January 2014.

Officials at the ceremony described the facility as the first of its kind in the United States and one of just a few that exist worldwide.

“This facility allows us to take products that are really at just the beginning of the scale-up process to a commercially viable process,” UMass President Robert Caret said.

Ground was broken on the 35,000-square-foot facility in May. Upon completion, the facility is expected to provide 25,000 square feet of production/support space, four production suites, quality control labs, a research and development suite, training lab, lecture halls, office space and a presentation/public access area.

The facility is being built through a $14.6 million investment from Massachusetts Life Science Center. An additional $10 million in capital funds has been invested from UMass Dartmouth, with $3 million more expected from grants and corporate donations. Growth from the facility is expected to lead, in part, to the expansion of additional businesses inside the park.

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Divina Grossman said the MAB will do for the life science industry what the school’s marine science center has done for the scallop industry. She said the manufacturing center will also create new jobs in the region.

“It is clear, in my mind, that this is about our future — not just the future of science, but the future of our economy,” she said.

Outgoing UMass Trustee James Karam said the facility, in addition to benefiting the region, will give UMass Dartmouth students an advantage as they gain practical biomanufacturing experience.

“A project like the MAB is what defines Massachusetts as a global leader,” Karam said.